Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Do you want a blessed home?
Jesus said BLESSED are those who Hunger & Thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Jesus promises blessing to those who hunger for the RIGHT THINGS of God. Do you know what the right things of God are? It can be tricky, because there are some things like legalism & lukewarm-ness that appear to be “right” but are actually wrong.
Are you ready to hunger and thirst after Righteousness? Are your ready for a Blessed Home?
Bless This Home 1 – Hungry Home
Sermon notes by Pastor Chris Fluitt
Redemption Church Plano Tx
Bumper VIDEO1: “I’m sick and tired of living in this small house. You need to make more money so we can get a decent place to live.”
“I’ll sneak out and meet you around midnight. My parents are clueless; they’ll never know.”
“As long as you live under this roof, you’ll do what I say.”
“I don’t care what you say; you can’t stop me from going to the party.”
“I saw you checking her out.”
“I was just looking at the brand of her jeans; I thought they might look good on you.”
“All right. Who’s going to pray this time?”
“Me. Dear Jesus, thank you for all the ways you’ve blessed our family.”
Bless this Home
How many want a blessed home? Raise your hands if you want a blessed home.
If you will go to google and type in the words “bless this home” and then click “shopping” you will find over 400 items available for purchase. You can find vinyl letters for your walls, stitched fabric decorations or blankets, pictures, shirts, coffee mugs, key hangers and mail sorters, and my personal favorite… door mats.
Nothing says bless this home like rubbing muddy shoes on a door mat that says “bless this home.”
When it comes to the subject of blessing our homes it is an easy sale. I think I could talk everyone into receiving a blessing on their home. I think it is safe to say that no one came to church today or looked up our facebook live stream or youtube sermon video thinking “I hope they tell me how to curse my home. That is some information I could really use.”
No! Of course not. You want your home to be blessed. It is an easy sale.
Would you describe your home as blessed?
We want a blessed home, but is that how we would describe our home?
Would we be more likely to describe our homes as..
- Stressed (worried, busy, overwhelmed by problems, difficulty)
- Struggling (marriage, children, health)
- Strapped (not enough money, time or energy)
Is your home blessed? If you want a blessed home, you need to listen today, and make plans to be here for the next 3 weeks.
Jesus gives us surprising ways to be blessed in Matthew 5. If you have been around churches you may have heard of the beatitudes.
Beatitudes Matthew 5
The beatitudes is a portion of Jesus’sermon on the mount where he gave us a list of blessings. Does a list of blessings from Jesus sound important to you? You are going to want to be here for the rest of this series to grab a hold of the blessing of God for your home.
Matthew 5:6 (NIV2011) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Jesus says the key to blessing for your home is what you hunger & thirst for.
Hungry Home
This is the exact opposite of how we think in the year 2017. We think blessing comes from being filled. We are blessed when the bank account is FULL. Blessing occurs when our closets are filled with new clothes. When we filled with the latest and greatest material possessions, that is when we are blessed. This is how we think, but Jesus says differently.
Blessing doesn’t come from being full. Blessing comes from hungering…
Jesus is telling you that you don’t have to wait for that job to be blessed. You are blessed even when you hunger for that job. It won’t be the moment that Mr. Right or Ms. Right come into your life that will be the moment you are blessed. You can be blessed even when you are hungering for that loving relationship to find you.
This is crucial, because we often think we are lacking a THING, and that we obtain blessing by obtaining the THING.
Jesus tells us that blessing flows to us from hunger. Hunger is the lack of some-THING. Stop thinking about THINGS being the source of your blessing and happiness. Jesus wants you to receive a blessing that comes from hunger and thirst.
Over the last 7 days, what were you hungering for?
Where you hungering for popularity?
Where we thirsty for things to calm down so you could relax?
Could we have been hungry for some THING or material possession?
Here is something I know. You were hungering for something. You were dreaming & wishing about something. You were reaching for something. Over this past week something stood in the focus of your life.
Matthew 5:6 (NIV2011) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessing doesn’t just come from hunger and thirst. Jesus promises you that blessing comes from hungering and thirsting after righteousness. What is righteousness?
Righteousness is a heavy religious word that most people think they could never achieve, but let me help you understand righteousness.
RIGHTeousness – Right things
If you hunger after righteousness it doesn’t mean you only want to quote scripture and attend worship services 24 hours a day. Righteousness means right or correct things.
Blessing comes when we hunger and thirst for RIGHT THINGS.
Can we be honest and say that maybe we hunger after some things that are not righteous. These things will never bring us blessing.
- Greed
- Lust
- Revenge
- Pride
Only when our home hungers for the right things of God will we see the blessing that Jesus promised in Matthew 5.
Jesus is saying “This is what works for your life and your home. Hunger for RIGHT things.” Matthew 5:6 is what works for a blessed home.
But there are things that don’t work. There are some things that seem RIGHT, but they don’t work. Life is tricky when we think we are doing right, but actually are not.
Proverbs 14:12 (NIV2011) There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Here are 2 things that seem right but don’t work.
Legalistic & Lukewarm
A legalistic & lukewarm life will not work.
Legalistic
What does it mean to be legalistic? It means that you are all about rules.
Legalistic Christianity focuses of what you can and cannot do. A legalistic home will be all about rules. You can’t do this or that. You can’t go to the school dance. You can’t hang out with people who would go to the school dance. In fact we probably should not be saying the word dance.
Rules without relationship lead to rebellion
A life in Christ is a life centered on relationship, not rules. We aren’t focused on following the rules, we are focused on honoring the relationship in love.
Yet rules without relationship always lead to rebellion. It worked that way in the Garden of Eden and it will work that way in your home.
A legalistic life will not work!
A lukewarm life will not work either.
Lukewarm
What does it mean to be lukewarm? To be lukewarm is to be neither hot nor cold.
Revelation 3:16 (NIV2011) So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
A Lukewarm Christian doesn’t have their own temperature; they are the temperature of their surroundings. If they are around people that are passionate about God then they will by default be passionate, but if they are around dispassionate people then they will default to dispassion.
Lukewarm Christians are thermometers not thermostats.
How do you know you are lukewarm?
I don’t mean to judge anyone spirituality, but these are things that stand out to me.
- If you can’t remember the last time you prayed with your family you may be lukewarm.
- If you can’t remember the last time you were excited about something you learned from the Word of God you may be lukewarm.
- If it has been a while since you told your family about someone you shared Christ with during the day you may be lukewarm. Id it has been a while since you testified to your family about something God is actively doing…
- If you you aren’t actively leading your family out of situations that could be spiritually damaging then you could be living a lukewarm Christian life.
A lukewarm Christian life does not work. Jesus says you will be spit out in Revelation 3:16
Legalistic & Lukewarm
The Legalistic & Lukewarm life will not work when it comes to blessing your home.
What works is what Jesus told us in Matthew 5:6.
Matthew 5:6 (NIV2011) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
In the physical have you ever hungered after unhealthy things? You just hungered for a pizza, a 2 liter of soda, a Netflix marathon, and a couch. How will that diet make you feel after a while? It while make you feel terrible.
About a year ago I realized I was hungering after things that were making me feel crummy. I decided I needed to change my appetite.
Change your appetite
I started to hunger after healthy eating and exercise and I started to feel better. I then found myself wanting to go to the gym more than sit on the couch for 3 hours of Netflix binging. I then found myself enjoying healthier food than the junk I had been eating.
This week we have been so busy that I for the first time in a while did not have time for the gym and made poorer food choices. Some of the things I use to really enjoy eating, this week I looked at it and said yuck. Some of the activities I use to really look forward to, I thought man I would rather be at the gym.
If what you are doing in the NATURAL or the SPIRITUAL is not working, then you need to change your appetite.
We need to hunger after RIGHT THINGS!
Things following statement is what works. We are going to be coming back to this statement over the next weeks.
We are not just a Christian Family, we are a Christ Centered home.
Do you notice the difference between a Christian Family and a Christ Centered Home?
You can call yourself a Christian family and that doesn’t mean much. About 80% of Americans call themselves Christians, but they are not necessarily Christ Centered. They may be Legalistic or Lukewarm but not Christ Centered.
There is a big difference in letting Christ be a part of your life, and making Christ the CENTER of your life.
Scripture didn’t say blessed are those who believe in Christ when it is convenient… It says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Psalm 63:1 (NIV2011) You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
We are to be a Christ centered home so let’s edit this verse for our home.
Psalm 63:1 (NIV2011) You, God, are our God, earnestly we seek you; we thirst for you, our whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Earlier I asked you what you hungered for this last week. Imagine the silly things we hunger for in place of God.
You, new Car that is over-priced and drops in value the instant I drive it off the car lot, are my God…
You, what other people think about me, you are my God. Earnestly I seek your likes on my instagram.
This is a stupid way to live. It is stupid to hunger for things that don’t fill you. It is stupide give your life to things that don’t give you life in return. These things don’t work and just leave you empty.
Hungering for the right things of God works.
Is your home blessed by hungering after the right things of God?
- Baby Dedication
Today we are blessed to be able to dedicate babies to the Lord.
This is Biblical.
Hannah was a woman who could not have a child. She wanted a child and prayed to the Lord. She promised to dedicate her Child to the service of the Lord.
God gave her a son and Hannah dedicated this boy to the service of God. This boy became the prophet Samuel.
Today we are dedicating our children to the service of the Lord.
We will pray for the children, but we will also pray for and challenge the parents.
Parents are you hungering and thirsting after the right things of God?
Invite the Church to come pray.